Europe chlorine production stable in September - Euro Chlor

19 October 2009 16:27  [Source: ICIS news]

LONDON (ICIS news)--European chlorine production was largely stable in September, rising just 0.4% from the previous month, figures from industry body Euro Chlor showed on Monday.

Chlorine output in September reached 767,145 tonnes, which was 6.8% lower than levels seen in the previous year, the release said.

Average daily chlorine production of 25,571 tonnes in September was also 6.8% lower than September 2008, but this was a marked increase of 3.7% on those levels seen in August.

September caustic soda stocks fell to 241,403 tonnes, which was a 12.8% decrease on August inventory levels, and a fall of 63,391 tonnes compared to September 2008.

The estimated chlor-alkali capacity utilisation in September reached 71.9%, up from 69.3% in August, which many market sources attributed to the traditional slowdown.  

“There was some 41% less caustic soda exported in September compared to August, but stocks still decreased, while [chlor-alkali] operating rates are up,” said a caustic soda supplier, who concluded: “This is a really positive signal for the market that off-take is improving. This will continue into November and beyond as polyvinyl chloride (PVC) [the main downstream use for chlorine] demand falls.”

Although a number of caustic soda buyers had widely conceded that prices would continue to increase due to lower operating output, others felt that suppliers would struggle to push through increases above €25-30/DMT ($37-45/DMT) (dry metric tonne).

“Demand for caustic soda will also tail off, as the market winds down ahead of Christmas,” one consumer said. “Producers will only be able to push minor price increases through, as demand is not strong.”

This year’s Euro Chlor figures were boosted by the introduction of two new companies to the group, which increased the reported capacity by around 2.15% in 2009, Euro Chlor said.

EU 25 + Norway/Switzerland
Production & capacity utilisation

Month	Production (tonnes)			Capacity Utilisation (%)
	2008	2009	% change	2008	2009 (estimate)
January	920,472	665,891	-27.7%	86.5%	60.4%
February	854,617	740,603	-13.3%	85.9%	74.4%
March	916,402	738,872	-19.4%	86.1%	67.0%
April	874,507	670,349	-23.3%	84.9%	62.8%
May	911,541	764,102	-16.2%	85.7%	69.3%
June	852,078	761,213	-10.7%	82.8%	71.3%
July	909,597	825,731	-9.2%	85.5%	74.9%
August	916,087	764,468	-16.6%	86.1%	69.3%
September	823,480	767,145	-6.8%	80.0%	71.9%

Caustic soda stocks (tonnes)

	2008	2009
January	274,625	242,588
February	249,762	293,675
March	277,515	352,685
April	260,049	349,259
May	257,559	341,344
June	247,738	304,845
July	264,509	332,600
August	325,034	276,715
September	304,794	241,403

($1 = €0.67)

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By: Stephanie Wilson
+44 20 8652 3214

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